


The stupid, the proud

by scavengerscum



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Enemies to Lovers, Evil Space Boyfriends, M/M, Mild Gore, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Post-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Psychological Torture, That's Not How The Force Works, hella repressed emotions, please excuse my disregard for the canon i haven't even read up on, this is not a redemption fic, very mild
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-14
Updated: 2017-02-14
Packaged: 2018-09-24 08:52:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9714158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scavengerscum/pseuds/scavengerscum
Summary: After the destruction of Starkiller, Hux must return Ren to the Supreme Leader. He never expected to be betrayed by his own and left to rot on that cold, dead planet.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I... have probably read this chapter one too many times and my inner critic is screaming but IT MUST BE POSTED. Kudos/comments make my ~~month~~ day!  
>  Title is from the song by IAMX.

“Report, officer.”

Tahart tapped the nav screen few times before turning to Hux. “We’re now on a direct route to Naros. We’ll be passing close to one system which is mostly uninhabited, so no trouble there. The route should take about ten hours.” Her voice was flat, but the set of her shoulders was proud and she was drumming a quiet rhythm on the edge of the panel. Pleased, then. Hux nodded and moved on.

It was best to keep busy.

He was looking out of the viewport when he felt the whisper of a presence behind. He turned to find Mitaka, standing with his hands clasped behind his back and an expression Hux was well acquainted with. Anxious and tinged with resent.

“Yes, lieutenant?”

“Sir”, Mitaka began. “There has been an… incident.”

“Let me guess.”

Mitaka’s mouth drew into a straight line. “The med staff didn’t know how… _resistant_ Force-users were to sedatives. They didn’t want to do any damage, so the initial dose wasn’t enough. And then-”

“Why wasn’t I consulted about this?”

“Sir. Well. I wasn’t aware you wished to be involved. I would have…”

He trailed off, and Hux suppressed a huff of irritation. “In future”, he said, biting out each syllable, “notify me of all arrangements concerning Ren. What happened?”

Mitaka took a long, deep breath. Hux waited. “He’s injured two of the staff and damaged some of the equipment in the med bay. They managed to give him another sedating injection, but Ren started fighting the last one only a few minutes after it entered his bloodstream. It’s probable that this one will be even less effective.” Mitaka glanced back nervously as if Ren was about to charge into the command room, lightsaber blazing and hand outstretched to give the lieutenant the Force-choking of his life.

 _Kriffing hell._ “I’ll go to the med bay.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you.”

It was a large shuttle – hardly even a shuttle, really – and Hux heard the clamour several seconds before he reached his destination. The med bay was chaos. High-pitched voices engaged in frantic conversation as barely-qualified med officers rushed around and tried to avoid the pieces of ruined equipment that were scattered all over the floor. It seemed that Ren had, in the time Mitaka had taken to explain the situation, ruined any semblance of calm by waking up. If he even _was_ awake. Hux’s first impression was that Ren was being held down on a low bed, and wouldn’t – or couldn’t – use the Force to free himself. But as he moved closer it became apparent that nobody was close enough to Ren to restrain him. It was hard to tell if Ren was asleep or awake; his eyes were squeezed shut but he was thrashing about, wild and uncoordinated.

Pathetic.

The med staff turned to Hux one by one as he came to stand by Ren, shattered glass crunching underfoot. Their agitated chatter died, and most of them saluted; those that didn’t were in luck, since Hux hadn’t the time nor patience to reprimand them. Instead, he moved to Ren’s side and peered at his face, trying not to recoil at the bloody mess of the wound. Raw and gaping yet somehow _neat_ in the way it bisected Ren’s puzzle-piece features. How strange. A glance down confirmed that the wounds on Ren’s bare torso was much less severe but still unpleasant, oozing dark blood and sickly white pus. Apparently Ren was stupid enough not to let anyone treat the wounds that might eventually kill him. Hux shouldn’t have been surprised.

“Ren”, he said, a little too close and a little too harsh.

Ren spat out an unintelligible, sleep-slurred curse. His fists were clenched at his sides even as his head whipped from side to side. Blue veins pulsing under paper skin. There were remnants of blood everywhere, under his nails and coating his skin even where there were no wounds.

And then Ren’s eyes opened, quick as lightning, dark and furious. Hux didn’t mean to take a step back, but it was fortunate that he did because a second later the light fixture he had been standing directly under shattered, scattering shards of glass all over the floor. Some of them landed on Ren, but he didn’t seem to notice or care.

“Stop”, Hux snapped. “Control yourself.” There was no reason why he should even attempt to keep the contempt out of his voice.

Ren was struggling to sit up, and his lips were curled into a snarl that revealed sharp, white incisors – and more blood. How had Ren managed to injure his _mouth_?

“What are _you_ doing here?”

Hux very almost rolled his eyes. Ren caught his expression and bared his red-tinged teeth – but he wasn’t leaping off the bed or Force-choking Hux yet, so the situation was really going quite well.

Hux gestured for the med staff to leave and waited until the two of them were left alone before speaking. “I’m here because you’re wreaking havoc, as per usual. Please, don’t have a temper tantrum. Now listen - will the Supreme Leader be happy with either of us if you injure me and allow those wounds of yours to fester?” He held Ren’s feverish gaze as he spoke and refused to look away.

Ren was trembling, his arms barely supporting his weight. His expression flickered from emotion to emotion so fast that Hux could barely keep up, let alone understand what any of it meant. The knowledge would be useless anyway. “They’ve been drugging me. Doing things to me when I’ve been _asleep_.” Ren’s voice was tight with rage, shaky.

“Do you really wonder why?”

Ren’s lips curled into a bitter smile. More blood oozed out of the wound. “I could kill them. So easily.”

“But you haven’t, have you?” Hux gave him a pointed look. A look that said _you’re weak_ and _you were outsmarted by a fucking scavenger_. “I’m going to send in two of the med staff. They won’t sedate you – if they try then you can blame me for my misjudgement. If you hurt them then that’s your responsibility, and you should bear in mind that if you don’t let someone treat those wounds there’s a definite possibility you will die or suffer permanent injury from infection. Have I made myself clear?”

There was a tense silence as they regarded each other, Ren scowling and Hux as cool as the resent burning low in his stomach would allow. Eventually Ren’s expression relaxed. Just a little, but enough. “I’ll ask them to give you bacta patches and leave you alone as much as possible.” Less effective than a more hands-on approach, but less likely to result in dead officers and further injury to Ren. Hux tried not to think about what Snoke would do to him if he turned up with a half-dead apprentice to show for his efforts – that on top of the Starkiller disaster. It didn’t bear thinking about.

Hux walked out of the med bay. He stopped by the staff clustered outside and appraised them with nothing resembling gratitude. He recognised two of them – Rocho and Holt, who were officially qualified medics – and gestured for them to go in after relaying the orders he’d promised Ren. “You may go about other jobs that don’t involve Ren”, he told the others, making sure to glare a little. “It’s your own responsibility if you get too close.” Then he left.

It was going to be a long ten hours.

 

***

 

“Landing in five minutes, sir.”

Hux looked up from his data pad, checked his wrist. The journey had taken just over ten hours – not bad. He slipped the data pad back into his greatcoat and stood. “Is Ren ready?”

“As ready as he can be, sir. He’s dressed, and he can stand.”

“Good. You may return to your post.”

Hux glanced around the command room. It was like a much smaller version of the Finalizer, and in the few hours Hux had been on board it had become a comfortable space to work. There had been no sign of Ren as of yet.

There was a small viewport just behind him, and it was here that he stood as Naros fast approached. The planet wasn’t actually called Naros – on the nav system it was simply _N.R.S._ , but that was tiresome to spell out. There was no further information available, not even the meaning of the initials, though the ‘S’ presumably stood for Snoke. Or perhaps Supreme.

“General.”

Hux turned a little too fast. Ren was fully clothed but maskless, and somehow the wound looked even more pronounced now than it had ten hours earlier. It was closed and certainly less gory, but it stood out against Ren’s sickly pallor like red fire.

“Are you ready to leave?” Hux asked. An announcement sounded: _entering planet atmosphere_. In a few minutes, Hux would be standing in front of the Supreme Leader himself. Itself.

“Yes. Are you?”

Hux raised an eyebrow. It was always odd how different Ren’s voice sounded without that stupid mask of his – tremulous, almost, and soft as a child’s. Delicate. “I’ve been ready since we boarded this shuttle.” Outside, the stars grew fainter as they descended.

“Are you afraid, General?”

“Of course not.” The lie tasted sour, because Hux knew that _Ren_ knew it was a lie. Even if Ren was strictly forbidden from probing his mind, he picked up on general senses – emotions – with the Force. Effortlessly. He was surely breathing in Hux’s fear like sweet-scented smoke.

But Ren didn’t say anything. There was no baiting, no snide remarks whatsoever. Hux was almost disappointed. Perhaps they both knew that trouble awaited – after all, it was really a joint responsibility. Hux was furious at himself for the design faults he had let slip, and Ren was certainly wallowing in shame and self-pity over his embarrassing defeat.

 _‘Two minutes until landing.’_ Not much was visible outside the viewport now, just grey haziness.

“You seem less… volatile”, Hux said.

Ren sneered, then winced, and Hux almost smirked out of habit. “Don’t credit yourself, General.”

“I won’t. Shall we get ready to depart?”

They walked out in silence, back to the narrow chamber where the ramp would be lowered. It was very dark. Hux couldn’t hear anything but Ren’s ragged breaths and his own heartbeat, much faster than he would have liked to admit. _‘One minute until landing.’_ Hux heard stormtroopers coming up behind them, and turned to check the numbers. There hadn’t been time to organise a proper crew, of course, but the Order at least had protocol for such a disaster as Starkiller – there was something of a crew.

It was a shame that he only intended to take a select few. They wouldn’t be able to protect him from Snoke, and attempting to hide behind _stormtroopers_ would be the utmost cowardice. Masked soldiers, without identity, without a great deal of anything save combat skills. He suspected they had no real purpose here, but it was best to stay on the safe side. He had constructed their training program, after all.

The shuttle slowed rapidly and finally came to a halt. The boarding ramp lowered slowly, and… nothing. Just grey.

Hux turned to Ren. “You’ve been here before. Do you know where to go?”

Ren gave him an offended glare. “Of course I do. We’re very close to the Supreme Leader’s... abode.”

Hux opened his mouth to ask another question, then closed it again. “Well. Let’s go.”

They moved forward. Hux ordered the stormtroopers to wait by the ship, except the four that led the squad, two of which moved to flank Ren and Hux while the others protected their backs. Hux’s first step onto the planet was anticlimatic if anything – it was rocky, certainly, but for the first few seconds there was nothing much to see. Fog hung heavy all around, thick and damp.

But as his eyes adjusted to the grey haziness, it became apparent that the moisture in the air was _shifting_ – although at first nothing but the ground was visible, seconds later the shape of a looming mountain could be seen. It disappeared after a few blinks.

“Follow me”, Ren said. He was doing a good job at pretending there was nothing wrong but Hux saw the way he moved, jerky, like a droid. It was strange seeing Ren without the mask in front of the troopers, as raw and exposed as the scar that bisected his face.

Hux followed a little behind Ren, close enough that he didn’t look like an inferior but not so close as to not know what was coming. He tried not to pay too much attention to the shifting mists, instead focusing on the ground to make sure he didn’t trip and make a fool of himself, keeping an eye on where Ren placed his feet. At least Ren seemed to know where he was going. The nav system hadn’t been exact in Snoke’s whereabouts beyond the general area.

The air seemed to grow colder as they walked. Hux’s toes felt slightly numb even in thermal socks and the thick protection of his boots, and the cold seemed to blow right _through_ the material of his clothing, seeping straight into the soft skin beneath. It was a good thing they were moving. The mists did their strange shifting dance, and for a moment Hux glimpsed the mountains all around – great hulking things, blue-tinged grey and jagged as cracked teeth. And then they were gone.

“How much longer?” Hux asked. Questions like that made him seem weak, so he made sure to spit out the words with as much venom as could plausibly merit the situation. Which was quite a lot.

“Not long”, Ren replied. He paused, looking back at Hux, and the half-smile on his face was unpleasant. “Tired, General?”

“No”, Hux snapped, a little too fast. “Please _continue_.”

Ren walked forwards again, and the troopers fell back into place like the exchange had never happened. It always gave Hux a slight thrill, though his pleasure was still somewhat soured from the defection. Still, to the best of his knowledge none of the troopers who currently accompanied them had ever needed to be sent to reconditioning, and even if they weren’t loyal… Ren could take care of any mishaps.

He really was worrying too much. It was probably a side effect of losing his life’s work to a scavenger girl and Ren’s personal agenda.

Ren hadn’t lied. As Hux dragged his train of thought away from Starkiller, he happened to glance up. It was impossible to make out details, but there was definitely a mountain looming right above – a mountain with a great, gaping entrance. A fortress.

Of _course_ Supreme Leader Snoke had a fucking mountain fortress.

Hux could sense Ren’s smug smile as they approached. The mists were becoming more erratic, disorientating in the way they swirled around him, distorting the surroundings. _Focus._ Hux kept his eyes on Ren’s dark figure, watching as dark robes fluttered on a non-existent breeze. Hux realised, suddenly, just how still the air was. There was no wind, or it was so slight it couldn’t be felt by humans.

It would be a relief to leave Ren here and get back to the Finalizer. Snoke wouldn’t take that from him. At least there he would be doing something _useful_ , drawing up new designs or planning or organising or _anything_ but escorting Ren like a kriffing childminder. Hux was even beginning to miss Phasma, wondering if she’d got off the base alive. How many of them had got away? Certainly not many of the troopers, but perhaps a good few of the officers who had the clearance to take a TIE fighter or something more advanced. Not that clearances would have meant a great deal in the midst of a planet collapse, of course.

The mountain was right above them. They were moving inwards, slowly being swallowed by the mass of dark rock. No one spoke. Ren moved a hand to his hip, and Hux didn’t have a clue what he was doing until a hissing sound cut through the air. Ren’s saber flared to life, brilliant red that stung the eyes after the monotony of fog and grey rock.

They continued, and soon it was dark enough that Hux and the troopers were following nothing but the light of Ren’s saber. The air had felt so dead, but now it was _humming_ , and Hux recognised this with uncomfortable certainty. Ren was using the Force – and it was more than just grabbing something from across the room because he was too lazy to get up and fetch it. He was navigating his way to Snoke with nothing but his mind. The saber gave off a fair amount of light but Hux knew it wasn’t for Ren’s benefit – it was for him. And the troopers.

And suddenly there was something else in the distance. Hux’s eyes adjusted until he could make out red lights, small glowing things. Torches, but not the archaic sort that burned with real fire. No, these were some kind of Force technology, they had to be, because they had the same steady, bright luminosity as a lightsaber. More specifically, Ren’s lightsaber.

Ren didn’t turn his saber off, though. He just kept on walking, a dark figure outlined in startling red. Hux pondered the logistics of kyber-crystal torches and whether or not they were just good imitations.

Eventually they reached a split in the passage. One way was much better lit, curving upwards and disappearing out of sight only a few metres from its entrance. The other led off to the left. It wasn’t dark, but it seemed oppressive, somehow. Neither of the passages were particularly appealing.

“You need to wait here”, Ren said, addressing the troopers. Hux caught a glimpse of his features in the light of the saber, all red glow and dancing shadows. Something in Hux’s chest jumped; he wasn’t sure why.

The troopers arranged themselves, two on either side of the passage. Ren took a step towards the well-lit stairs. “Ready, General?”

“Of course.” Hux made to follow him, and steadily ignored the sudden, unexpected terror that wrenched at his gut.

 

They began their climb. The air crowded in again; Ren wasn’t using the Force anymore, or at least not like he had been before. The stairs started off shallow but gradually grew steeper, and Hux was disappointed to find his legs aching after only a few minutes. It was a long time since the Academy, where he had trained every day – as General, they wasn’t a great deal of time for serious physical exertion, or even leisurely exercise. Ren kept up a punishing pace, never glancing back. He didn’t need to.

The passage was becoming narrower – crowding them, coiling upwards like a spring. And then it stopped.

They stood in a cavern, alone. No, not alone. Red torches could be seen around the edges, but more than anything the luminous colour of them seemed to hang in the air - foully, like the stench of something rotten. Or blood. Hux should have expected something like this. At the opposite end of the cavern there was a dais, and on the dais a dark chair – a throne? Hux matched Ren’s pace now, and they approached Snoke together, the soles of two pairs of black boots echoing all around. The echoes were slow, and they took a long time to fade.

Soon they were close enough to make out the figure of Snoke. Ren would be feeling him with the Force while Hux was left to squint, trying to make out the details of the being that sat very still, swathed black robes. Perhaps he should have been more afraid.

Ren knelt as soon as they reached the dais. He bowed his head so that black tendrils fell over his face, all hunched over like a tamed creature – the tamed creature he _was_ – whilst Hux stood, refusing to tear his eyes away from Snoke’s face. Bone-pale and gaunt as a skeleton. He didn’t look very different to how he had in the holos, except that he was closer to a human height. Hux would have placed him at about seven feet, surely all withered bone and gristle. He shouldn’t be thinking such things here - just in case - but Ren’s rare intrusions of his head had always been so pronounced, it didn’t make sense that he wouldn’t feel it if Snoke was reading his thoughts.

Ren’s saber was still ignited, clasped in one white-knuckled hand at his side. It was dangerously close to those messy tendrils of hair.

Snoke stood.

His movements were fluid, unnervingly so, and his robe slipped around like a curious arrangement of shadows. He didn’t move from in front of the throne, but lowered his pale gaze to Ren.

“Turn off the lightsaber, Kylo.” Snoke drew the name out like spun silk, reverent.

Ren fumbled for the ignition button and eventually succeeded in pressing it. The blade died, and suddenly it was very still, very quiet. The torches on the walls made no sound, and in Snoke’s chamber the glow of them wasn’t quite alive.

“Stand up.”

Ren stood. He was struggling now, unsteady on his feet, and Snoke knew it. Ten hours with bacta patches. It wasn’t enough. Snoke might be rifling through Ren’s head now, tugging at memories of the shuttle, how Hux had commanded all the staff to leave. He hadn’t done anything _wrong_.

Snoke turned to him, slow and languorous like a cat turning to study its prey. Hux tried to stop his lips from curving into a slick, practiced smirk. It was not the right time for games.

“General. Do you have anything to say?”

Hux grit his teeth. “I offer you my sincerest apologies, Supreme Leader.”

“Is that all?” There was something like amusement in Snoke’s dry, rumbling voice, but not quite. It must be something alien.

“I will do everything I can to make reparations to the Order, of course”, Hux said. “A new superweapon would be a long time in the making, especially one like Starkiller, but-” his voice faltered a little. “But for now I will return to Arkanis and begin regrouping, organising. This is not the end of the Order.”

Snoke smiled. The translucent skin around his mouth strained to accommodate an expression that probably hadn’t been used in years. Membranes thinned out to reveal the bone underneath. “No, General. This is not the end of the Order. But you will not be going to Arkanis.”

“What?” The exclamation slipped past Hux’s lips before he had a chance to swallow it, and it sounded very loud in the dead air. Ren looked at him, just for a second, startled.

“I need you to do complete a task for me”, Snoke continued. “You will go to Csilla. There is something there that needs to be retrieved.”

Hux remained silent. He hoped, recklessly, that Snoke could see the venom in his eyes, feel the fury radiating off of him in waves. He wasn’t like Ren; he wouldn’t throw a tantrum.

But he wasn’t a pawn.

“Very well”, Hux replied, snake-slick. It was a long time since he’d had cause to use that tone. “As you wish. But, Supreme Leader – would it not be more beneficial to have me working in the Order at this time?”

Snoke took a step forward, something rattling under his robes. He produced a single silver key - ancient, some remnant of a time when computerized thumb prints and passwords hadn’t yet been invented. “No. I want you to complete this task for me.”

Hux took the key, and quick as ever his eyes darted over Snoke’s white hand, bony and warped and veined with blue. Blue veins, like a human. Then the key was in the pocket of his greatcoat, and he let go.

“Go to the House Palace in Csaplar and show that key. You will know what to do from there, and if you don’t…” Snoke fixed his dead eyes on Hux, unblinking. “Perhaps the role of General is too great a burden for you.”

 _Was that a threat?_ It had to be. Hux nodded again.

“You may leave, General. Do not lose the key.”

Hux cast one last glance at Ren, who had been side-eyeing him for the last few minutes. He felt something strange settle in his chest, like a promise. Ren hadn’t spoken. Hux turned on his heel and walked away, focusing all his attention on the hollow ring of his footsteps.

There wasn't a sound from behind, not even a whisper.

 

***

 

The walk back down was treacherous without Ren’s careful steps to follow, and Hux ended up clinging to the rough, slimy rock of the wall after he almost fell twice. There was no one there to mock him now. Oddly enough, being without Ren felt more unsettling than it had ever done before - stars, Hux had always been _glad_ to be rid of his tiresome, seething presence. But now – _now._

Time dragged. The steps seemed to be growing wider and shallower, but it could be his imagination. It could be an illusion. They could go on forever. Out of time.

Hux scolded himself for thinking such ridiculous, fear-induced things. It was absurd.

And yet-

The stairs were definitely widening. Stepping down was less jolting, and there was more than enough space for two. Hux looked down at his hands, tinged red in the torchlight. Bloody.

He didn’t even notice when the stairs finished, and almost did himself injury by trying to step down again. A moment of feeling foolish before realization hit.

He was at the bottom and nobody was there.

No troopers waited sentient in the passageway. There wasn’t a hair of evidence that anyone had ever been there.

The torchlight flickered.

Bloody hands.

Hux snarled into the darkness as his nails gouged into the skin of his palms, sinking deep into soft, yielding flesh. He’d left his gloves on the shuttle. The shuttle which would, by now, be speeding its way back to the Finalizer.

 

**Author's Note:**

> My tumblr is reystardust (the link didn't seemed to work so I'm playing it safe)


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